Maryeve Dufault Not To Be Taken Lightly At Lucas Oil Raceway

Maryeve Dufault Not To Be Taken Lightly At Lucas Oil Raceway

Topics: Maryeve Dufault, Ansell Protective Gloves 200

Maryeve Dufault Not To Be Taken Lightly At Lucas Oil Raceway

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
Tony Marks Racing
July 26, 2011

CLERMONT, Indiana (July 26, 2011) - - Despite her finishing position at Iowa Speedway, If Maryeve Dufault’s performance is any indicator of her growing strength on the short tracks in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, the Rookie of the Year candidate may be a surprise story in Thursday night’s Ansell Protective Gloves 200.

The Sorel, Quebec native is searching for her second career top-10 finish in the No. 12 Mad Croc Energy / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger. After capturing a strong 10th place finish at Chicagoland Speedway last month, the former open wheel driver has showed promise on the track with speed but has endured tough luck which has resulted in finishes not worthy of her Tony Marks Racing (TMR) team.

With the guidance of crew chief Ryan Chism, Dufault is hoping to change her luck in ARCA’s return to Lucas Oil Raceway in nearly 25 years.

“I’m ready to attack,” said Dufault. “We were so good at Iowa and we were taken out. I’m here to race and I’m here to do a good job for our sponsors and Tony Marks Racing. Hopefully, everyone can mind their manners and we can have a good race and take the checkered flag.”

She continued, “I’ve really learned a lot on the short tracks this year. Every track that we’ve gone to has been different, but the racing remains the same. It’s intense. Like I said, we’ve been quick; we just need to receive some respect out there and finish the race. If we can accomplish that we should be pleased with the results.”

Officially out of the championship hunt, Dufault shifts her agenda on the ARCA tour now aiming for strong finishes to keep her freshman team in the spotlight.

“Now that points’ aren’t necessarily an issue, we can focus on the bigger picture and that’s trying to win races. Obviously, that’s a tough task for any team to do in ARCA this year, but this is a good team with a lot of talented people, so we’re going to do our absolute best in the next seven races to try and put our No. 12 Mad Croc Energy / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger in victory lane.”

Car owner Tony Marks is optimistic about Thursday night.

“I know Maryeve will give all she can,” he said. “She’s done a good job this year; we just don’t have all the finishes to show for it. It’s another race where learning will be important and patience will be key to success. I know she’ll have her game face on when the green flag drops; I’m just hoping we can have the opportunity to put two TMR cars in the top-10.”

For the fourth time this season, Tony Marks Racing will field two entries on the ARCA Racing Series tour. In addition to Dufault, TMR development driver Jared Marks will compete in the 12th race of the year in the No. 8 Mad Croc Energy / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger on Saturday afternoon.

The Ansell Protective Gloves 200 (200 laps / 137 miles) is the 12th of 19 events on the 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. The eighth ever ARCA race at Lucas Oil Raceway is a one-day show. Practice begins Thursday, July 28 with an hour and a half practice session planned from 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying is slated for later in the day set to begin at 4:30 p.m. The event will take the green flag shortly after 7:00 p.m. The event will air live on SPEED. Additional event coverage including live timing and scoring throughout the 1,324th race for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards since it was formed in 1953 will be available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com presented by ARCANation.com. All times are local.

For additional information on TMT, Inc. please visit; tmtcompanies.net.

For more on Maryeve Dufault, please log onto Maryeveracing.com.

To learn more about Tony Marks Racing, please click over to Tmr-racing.com.

About Tony Marks Racing (TMR):

Tony Marks Racing was founded in 2009 through the passion for racing of team owner and former driver Tony Marks. Marks is the successful owner of TMT, Inc., a logistics, warehousing and packaging company with over 400 employees whose customers are mainly comprised of Fortune 100 companies.

Marks began his racing career in 1985 getting behind the wheel of everything from drag racers, Dirt Late Models, SCCA Formula Fords, USAC F2000 Open Wheel and ARCA cars. Tony personally raced until 2005 amassing numerous wins, championships and track records along the way until he then changed his focus from driver to owner and began building racing programs for his children Jared (16 years old) and Rachel (13 years old). Under the auspices of TMR, Jared began his racing career in 2002 in quarter midgets and now competes in late model, CRA, ASA and ARCA Series events while Rachel continues her development program racing quarter midgets and Bandoleros.

TMR has been at the forefront of charitable giving through its’ “Driving Against Hunger” and “Million Meal Challenge” race programs which have raised over $200,000 for Forgotten Harvest in 2010 at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series events at Michigan International Speedway.

For the NASCAR events TMR along with TMT, Inc. partnered with Forgotten Harvest for the “Million Meal Challenge For Our Kids” which helps to bridge the hunger gap while schools are out of session and feeds 20,000 children per day in the Detroit metro area. Forgotten Harvest was significantly displayed on the entry of Chase Austin during both the Truck and Nationwide events at Michigan International Speedway along with logos of “Million Meal Challenge” sponsors Walgreen’s, United Race Group, Holyfield’s Choice Alka-Power Water and Vitamin Spice. Evander Holyfield was also instrumental in the challenge, acting as Grand Marshall for the August race and announcing his “Fight Against Hunger” on behalf of Forgotten Harvest.

As the first race team to “Drive Against Hunger” through their partnership with Forgotten Harvest, TMR plans to continue their alliance with Forgotten Harvest and once again “Drive Against Hunger” during the 2011 season.

TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:

NAME: Chris Knight, Knight Motorsports Management
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: chris@chrisknightpr.com